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I came across an interesting piece of information from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders that showed we produced 574,257 cars and 82,256 commercial vehicles in the UK in the first 3 months of this year, most of which were destined for abroad. Considering that most people think that we don’t produce vehicles in this country any more and think that all Mercedes are made in Germany (many are made in India and Brazil) that looked like some amazing statistics. By Graham Hill

Some good news on the ESC (Electronic Stability Control) front. The EC has moved to make ESC compulsory on all new cars. The bad news is that the system will only be phased in from 2012 and made compulsory from 2014. You will recall that this is the system that checks your speed vs angle of steering and slows you down if you are about to go into a skid, it also applies power and/or braking to the wheels that are gripping. It’s an amazing system that was Read more »

If you are the sort of person who still likes to own your car then at some stage you will need to sell it again but according to contract hire company Lex it depends where you live as to how much you will get for your old car. If you have gone green and now own a hybrid or electric car you will be better off in the South especially around London as a result of the affects of congestion charging. Conversely Read more »

After all the public outcry over the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) reforms that were proposed by the Chancellor, a cross party committee has come out in favour of the proposals. When the Chancellor announced his plans to introduce the green banding retrospectively on not only new cars but also old cars pushing millions of used cars into higher tax bands the Tories and some Labour MPs condemned him for Read more »

Very bad news if you have bought a car or are buying it on HP but great news if you are leasing! EurotaxGlass’s has warned that used car prices will fall by at least 12% between now and the end of the year as retail demand continues to ease and the supply of second hand cars exceeds demand. The drop is around three times the drop experienced Read more »

Not much has been reported for a while about speeding fines. Probably because the local authorities are carefully playing it down as latest statistics show that speeding fines have increased four fold since labour came to power. Home office statistics show that 1.8 million tickets are issued annually or 4,850 every day, compared to 713,000 in 1997. In 1997 the amount of money raised in fines was £28.5 million, in 2006 the figure had risen to Read more »

BMW Financial Services have warned about an increase in lease scams whereby cars are obtained illegally by the scammers then sub leased to innocent third parties. One such fraudulent act included the customer signing the documents of a well known finance company and a seperate direct debit form which paid money straight into the scammer’s account and not the contract hirer’s account. The scammer made no payments for the car and disappeared whilst the driver continued Read more »

Sheilas’ Wheels have reported that more than three quarters of female motorists drive while hungry even though nearly half say that driving whilst hungry causes a loss of concentration. For 40% they say that feeling hungry increases their tiredness on the road. When asked why they drive whilst hungry the general response was it ‘slips my mind’ so the message must be if you want to be safe in a car with a woman driver listen out for the danger sounds, not tyres squeeling or knocks coming from the engine but a rumbling tummy and take a bag of chocolate to fix the problem. By Graham Hill

I recently warned anyone who has a car they own to get out of it as soon as possible and get into a lease car that carries no residual risk and reduces cash flow. The drop in used car values achieved at auction has again been highlighted by British Car Auctions who reported an average monthly drop in May of 3 year old cars of 2.6%. This continued into June with the average drop reaching 4.2%, the largest single month’s movement for several years. Again, get out of car ownership and into a form of finance which takes away all of the residual risk. By Graham Hill

Proposals have been made to re-schedule MOT tests. The first to take place after 4 years followed by biannual checks. As cars are built better and service intervals stretch out to 2 years or 20,000 miles it is felt that MOT tests are not required so frequently. However, the vehicle repairer’s association, MVRA, has objected strongly referring to ‘serious safety issues’ if the new proposals are adopted. I’ll keep you posted. By Graham Hill